Hearing the inaudible: The Hong Kong experimental music scene in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This article considers multiple ways in which, one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hong Kong experimental music scene has been impacted by the global health crisis and the social restrictions it has imposed on its actors. Using insights from three active local experimental music musicians and event organizers, it argues that three main tendencies are currently at play in the scene: adaptation, internationalization and extinction. It concludes that while the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed some actors the possibility to break down the relative isolation characteristic of the Hong Kong experimental music landscape, it appears to largely compound pre-existing structural issues within the scene.